Man clark



I L.GLARK. TRIMMING WELTS or BOOTS, 6:9. iN ,0 PATENTED JUNE 1 3,'1854.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LYMAN CLARK, OF SOUTH ROYALSTON,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CLARK SAWYER AND JOS. SAVVYER.

TRIMMING- WELTS OF BOOTS, SHOES, &c.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,078, dated June 13, 1854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LYMAN CLARK, of South Royalston, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Instrument for Trimming the Welts of Boots and Shoes, which I call the Protector Welt-Knife; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification. I

Figure 1, represents an instrument heretofore used for the purpose. Fig. 2, is a view of my. instrument, Fig. 3, shows the two in operation.

In pegged work it is desirable that the welt should show as thick as possible, while,.

at the same time, as there is but little wear upon it, it is generally made of inferior leather, and in order that it may be prepared for the bead which it receives, it is necessary that its upper edge be pared evenly and smoothly. There are two ways in which this has. usually been done: In the first method the welt is first hammered down and the edge is then taken off with a shoe knife, this leaves a smooth and perfect surface upon the upper side of the welt, but is objectionable on account of the danger of cutting the upper leather of the boot or shoe. In the other process, which is the one most commonly in use at the present time, the instrument represented in Fig. 1, is employed. This tool has a small pointed guard, at, projecting from beneath the cutting edge, Z), and is used as follows. The welt, in place of being thickened up by hammering, is laid over toward the sole by the welt bone, which is inserted between it and the upper leather. This is necessary in order to enable the pointed guard to pick up the edge of the welt. The latter is then trimmed by applying the instrument as seenat A, Fig. 3. The point, a, however, is very liable to injure the body of the shoe, particularly at the place where it is seen surface which is afterwards made smooth by the use of the Rand file, this instrument,

I as well as the paring tools, is very liable to injure the upper leather, and it is estimated by the largest manufacturers that all their job-work is deteriorated to the amount of ten or twelve per cent. upon its value by the various instruments used to trim the welt.

To remove all these inconveniences and to produce an instrument which cannot possibly injure the upper leather, and which may be operated upon the welt after it is hammered down, thereby leaving a smooth and perfect surface without the use of the Rand file, is the object of my present invention, which I will now proceed to describe.

Fig. 2, is a view of the instrument.

0, is a broad, flat guard formed by the extension and flattening of the shank d. Nearly at right angles with the guard is the blade f, having its cutting edge at 9 set at an angle somewhat less than a right angle with the surface of the guard for the purpose of pressing the welt down as it is cut. The instrument is operated as at B, in Fig. 3. The guard 0, being inserted beneath the welt which is previously hammered down and the tool is worked rapidly without the possibility of injuring the upper leather even in the most careless hands, while the surface which it leaves is smoother and more even than can be produced by any other method of trimming the welt.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The above described welt knife constructed in the manner substantially as set forth and represented in Fig. 2, of the accompanying drawing LYMAN CLARK.

Witnesses ABEL THURSTQN, NATHL. Woon. 

